Froebe helicopter
The Froebe Helicopter was the first helicopter to be built and flown in Canada.[1] It was built by brothers Doug, Theodore and Nicholas Froebe in the 1930s.
The machine was constructed on a custom-made steel tubular frame using spare parts and equipment from automobiles, farm machinery and elsewhere. Fitted with a de Havilland Gipsy aero engine, it had twin concentric contra-rotating rotors of stainless steel tubing with fabric covering and with full cyclic and collective pitch control.[2][3]
The 98 hp available from the engine proved inadequate, but several test flights were made, the machine showing severe vibration. Work was then interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War.
The helicopter was stored in a granary and forgotten. A later generation of the Froebe family rediscovered it and donated it to the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada.
Specifications
- Rotor span: 8.53 m (28′)
- Length: 4.14 m (13′ 7″)
- Engine: de Havilland Gipsy 98 hp 4-cylinder in-line, air-cooled aero engine
References
- ^ Render, Shirley (15 November 2007). "World's Second Helicopter Built in Manitoba in 1937-38". Helicopters Magazine.
- ^ "Froebe Helicopter: Before Sikorksy came the Froebe Brothers". Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada.
- ^ Bill Zuk (31 January 2013). "Canada' Rotary Wing Heritage". Canadian Aviation Historical Society.
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